


the party playlist

by hiinnie



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Humor, Kim Seungmin & Yang Jeongin | I.N are Siblings, Lee Minho | Lee Know is a Panicked Gay, Like pure crack, M/M, Minor seungjin, Swearing, but she's done with them, christmas references even tho it's not even december yet, danceracha are chaotic as fuck, drinking (at parties), jisung is truly Something Else, minho is a huge 3racha fanboy, only yeji has danceracha's respect, the fact that two skz sub units have a song titled wow with completely opposite energies??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27747139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiinnie/pseuds/hiinnie
Summary: A motherfucking flute riff.If Seungmin had been close to having a stroke before, then Minho couldn't describe what kind of attack was Chan going to suffer in the next three minutes. Poor DJ just stayed there, hands clasped as if praying, and Minho understood why when the first line came in:"Excuse me, noona, do you have a boyfriend?"People fell to the floor. Changbin was laughing like a madman, Felix holding onto him for life support.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 9
Kudos: 156





	the party playlist

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write a new one shot but school projects are killing me so here, have another one recycled from my wattpad acc

Bang Chan was a cool guy. That was something everybody agreed on; therefore, Chan was always invited to parties, and at some point he had become the public DJ for every student at his university. At first he had gone to parties with some of his music equipment, but realizing that no one really cared about the music after three or four drinks, Chan stopped and just played Spotify playlists from his own phone. He didn't even have Spotify premium, the ads jumped every four songs yet people still danced to them.

This occurrence started amusing Chan, mostly because his dear friend Lee Minho was at every party with him, and as a dance major he had choreographed every single song on all of the older's playlists. Some of them had been done while Minho was a normal, functioning human being; others had been made when he was so drunk he couldn't even see. It was truly incredible to watch Minho, barely able to stand on his own, teaching the choreographies to his equally dumb dance classmates during a party at 12 AM.

It was near Christmas during their third year at university that students started to plan their "post-finals-depression" annual party, again, with Chan in charge of the music; the difference this time being that Minho was a bit over-excited because he had met a couple of freshmen in dance class that, he was sure, would love his choreographies for the Party Playlist (or PP, for friends).

"You're telling me you choreographed three Katy Perry songs in the same night?" Felix asked from his place on a corner of the practice room, his eyes wide open in disbelief.

"I told you, I didn't really know what I was doing, but it turned out to be absolutely iconic so now you're going to learn them too," Minho watched the other's expression morph into one of slight respect, but when he turned around he was met with a not-so-nice grin on Hyunjin's pretty little face.

"Why don't you teach us _during_ the party?"

If there was something that the whole student body had learned after all those parties was "Do not dare Lee Minho to do something he's probably good at". Once, Minho had been challenged to a dance battle after a round of shots (he won, of course), and the next day, _still_ with the hangover clinging onto him, someone dared him to write an essay on why Gasolina by Daddy Yankee was actually a musical masterpiece, and to hand it in as an extra work. He did it, the absolute madman, and was so convincing in his essay that the professor gave him a whole fucking extra point on his final grade.

So he uttered a "You're gonna regret it" and smirked, leaving both boys behind to go bother Chan to have lunch together.

Now, there were lab rats and library rats between the students, and then there was Chan. The twenty-year-old spent as much time as he could in the music production room, full of equipment and even with a little fridge him and Changbin had bought for their personal health. So it wasn't a surprise to see both of them locked inside the room when he got there, and he was completely unfazed by Changbin spitting fire into a microphone— another daily occurrence.

"Hey, Minho!" Chan greeted happily as he opened the door, "What a shame, Jisung just left."

"Jisung? The freshman?"

The infamous Han Jisung. Friend of Chan's, Changbin's, Hyunjin's and Felix's, and he still hadn't met him. He only knew that he was really good at what he did, which just happened to be music production too, leading to him spending a great amount of time with both of Minho's friends. He also knew that he apparently looked like a squirrel, though that didn't actually give Minho any clue as to how the younger looked like— and that if something slightly bad or inconvenient happened, it was probably Jisung's fault ("We're out of ham sandwiches again", "Motherfucking Jisung").

"Yeah," Changbin replied, taking out a sandwich from the fridge and handing it to Minho, "He's been helping us with a song, but I think he's doing one on his own too."

"What a kid," Chan sighed in adoration, to which the other had to stifle a laugh as if he knew some dark secret about the song Jisung was working on by himself. Minho had a feeling he did know something.

"Anyways, Minho, we're adding some of our songs to the party playlist, if you want to know," Changbin informed, "they're Runner's High and, uh, Zone. Maybe Jisung's song too if he makes it on time."

"Dope! I'll let the boys know."

 _The boys_ was the term Minho had started using for Hyunjin and Felix, though it sometimes included Hwang Yeji too because she had beaten the three of them at Mario Kart in an arcade two times in a row, therefore being worthy of the title too. Yeji didn't really want to be involved in their bullshit, but Mario Kart was serious business.

 _The boys_ were chilling in the dance room again when Minho arrived that afternoon after his lectures. The two were alone, Felix splayed out on the floor in a very Patrick Star fashion, Hyunjin sitting in a corner like an average person, and both of them snickering about something.

"What is it?" Minho asked, closing the door behind him, "Why are you laughing?"

"You're not gonna fucking believe this," Felix turned to look at him, "Jisung's song is awesome. Showstopping. Incredible. Never seen—"

"Yeah, he's reusing one of Chan and Changbin's old unfinished songs," the taller interrupted, "but we can't tell you which one."

Thinking about it, Chan and Changbin had plenty of good songs that they hadn't finished. There was Alchemist, Broken Compass, P.A.C.E., which Minho had been quite disappointed when they told him they had to leave them. That last one was a personal favorite of his and he hoped Jisung had chosen it.

"But why are you laughing if it's that great?"

"Because you have no idea as to which song it is, and neither does Chan," answered Felix, slowly getting up and wincing at the sound of his knees crackling like a seventy-year-old man, "and this could probably get Jisung killed."

Minho didn't know Chan had such a deep hatred for his old songs, as great as they were. Sure, he once heard him complain about the repetitive rhythm of a couple of them, but he had said he'd fix them. When the older left a song unfinished it usually was because he lacked time, energy or was just plain bored of hearing it over and over again; he never stated a strong dislike for them.

"Alright, anyways, we're gonna choreograph Runner's High now and we'll do Zone at the party," he informed, making the other two get up, "and Jisung's song, if it ends up on the PP."

Felix laughed at "PeePee" like the pre-schooler he actually was, while Hyunjin just complained about having to finish an assignment later. When they had recovered, after four full minutes, the three got to work.

It wasn't until they were forty seconds into Runner's High that Minho noticed something had changed.

He listened to the new voice rapping some lines that he believed once belonged to Changbin, "Is that Jisung?"

The confirmation from the youngers didn't make it any better because, _wow,_ if Jisung rapped like that and the novel elements in the instrumental had been introduced by him, then whatever song he was working on would be almost legendary. An urge to meet the boy suddenly overwhelmed him.

"His voice doesn't really match his little bitch personality."

_Well, everyone has flaws._

By 6 PM they had gotten through half of the song and decided to call it a day, mostly because Hyunjin remembered his assignment was due tomorrow and he hadn't even started, and Felix had stopped functioning when he heard Changbin's part in Runner's High for the first time. _The boy_ s were truly something else. Still, the party was three days away, and by now almost everyone had finished their finals.

While walking back home he passed Yeji in the hallways, who was having a mental breakdown over her music theory test with a friend beside her, but she only cried harder when the other girl sang a bit to try to calm her down because it reminded her of the exam.

College was an incredible experience.

__________

"Guys, what took you so long?"

The three of them stared at Seonghwa, who was wearing a headband with two reindeer horns and looking a bit annoyed; behind him they could spot a Christmas tree.

There was no way they were going to tell the party host that Changbin's eyeliner had gotten into his eye, forcing him to re-do half of his make-up after ten minutes of sobbing because "That was the best wing I've ever made".

"People are awfully quiet, what the hell are you playing?" Chan asked as they followed Seonghwa inside his (parents') house, noticing that most of the guests were starting to drink out of boredom. In the background, the faint tune of a Dua Lipa song could be heard. The students, too accustomed to Chan's iconic playlists, found it impossible to dance to that.

"Move, bastard," the oldest walked up to the stereo and linked his phone via Bluetooth in a matter of seconds, "the soul of the party has arrived."

As _Tik Tok_ by Keshablasted through the entire house, bringing back to life the ones who were used to those types of songs at the start of parties and surprising freshmen who hadn't heard it since 2010, Minho watched his fellow dance dumbasses approaching them with another boy he didn't know.

"Minho! This is Seungmin," Felix introduced him, leaving the older slightly disappointed because it wasn't Jisung after all; then, as if he'd read his mind, he added, "Jisung came with us, but he said he was going to find Chan and then he got lost."

 _What a kid,_ Chan's voice replayed on his mind as he smiled at the new guy. Seungmin seemed nice, way too polite as he didn't know Minho and actually aware of it, but that facade would surely vanish after an hour or so. In his big puppy-like eyes he could catch a hint of stupidity, the one that both Hyunjin and Felix had, but he still seemed more intelligent than the two of them combined.

Usually, when Minho ended up engrossed in a conversation with someone, the songs playing behind them would just serve as background noise and they wouldn't really pay attention to them. This time it was totally different. None of the three boys on front of him had ever been to a party with Chan as the DJ, or as the masses called him, CB97; and watching their faces change from surprise to confusion to absolute bewilderment as the playlist went through _What Makes You Beautiful, Toxic_ and _I Gotta Feeling_ was like a roller-coaster ride.

Today's song selection had hits from the early 2000s, then the 2010s and even recent popular songs— not forgetting Chan, Changbin and Jisung's songs. It seemed to be on shuffle, though; at some point Minho believed he'd heard a particular _"Uh, and that's a long ass ride"._

"Minho! You're not gonna fucking believe this!" the called turned around with a feeling of deja vu to see Changbin coming up to him excitedly, "Jisung's song made it to the playlist just now!"

The older wanted to ask where even was this guy, but he didn't have the time because Changbin shoved a can of beer into his hand and distributed the rest between the others, gesturing them to follow him.

"Chan's going to play Timber next, I believe that's one of yours?" the shorter said once they were all in front of Chan and the stereo, watching as everyone slowly made a circle in the center of the room.

"It is!" Minho yelled, turning to Hyunjin and Felix, "Check this, fuckers!"

He downed the entire drink before going into the circle and starting his choreography. It was amazing, how he moved to the exact beat with perfectioned moves unfazed by the alcohol he'd had in less than thirty seconds, how he left everyone around him in utter shock —especially the first year students—, and how he was giving his all to fucking _Timber,_ of all songs. Then, when it ended, Minho walked back to Hyunjin and Felix as all the people just stood there, recovering from what had just happened again.

Both boys were gaping, and Seungmin behind them was close to having a stroke. Changbin approached them, grinning, and quickly informed, "Rest a bit, Chan will play Zone it ten minutes."

The oldest let a sloppy smirk form on his lips, "Enough time for a round of shots!"

He pulled _the boys_ to the bar, or rather, the Christmas themed corner of the living room where a friend of Seonghwa's was serving drinks. Seungmin had disappeared; Minho believed he needed some fresh air to fully gain back his cognitive functions.

"Here's the plan," he started, watching the _bartender_ pour something green into a glass in hopes of creating something remotely similar to a Christmas tree, "we get tipsy, then we choreograph Zone, and after that we follow the party like always, I mean, drink what you want. But when Runner's High comes on, we are obliged to dance."

Felix took a sip of whatever sick concoction had been made in his respective glass, flinched for a moment, and then said, "And Jisung's song?"

The illusion and excitement of Jisung possibly having finished P.A.C.E. was enough to make all the alcohol levels in Minho's blood lower at once; he'd been wanting to hear it and dance to it for the past days more than anything else. He smiled, "Yeah, we'll do it when it comes on, too, I don't care how drunk you are."

When Minho said that he didn't expect for Hyunjin to have such a low alcohol tolerance, but by the time Zone was playing the boy had had no more than two drinks and was a tall, clumsy mass of giggles that could potentially harm anyone if he fell. At first, Minho wasn't sure if he would be able to learn the choreography, but shockingly, one of drunk Hyunjin's best abilities was imitating people he found funny or people Felix told him. So naturally, despite the younger saying it wouldn't last for more than ten minutes before he fell asleep, they took advantage of that.

Everyone had moved to make a circle again according to Chan's instructions, leaving the three enough space to move freely. Once they heard the distinctive beat, Minho started improvising while blending in some practiced steps he'd made ages ago, Felix following with not much difficulty at the start and Hyunjin, surprisingly, acing most of the parts. The three laughed wholeheartedly when people started cheering and singing the chorus, an incredible mess of sloppy voices shouting " _I look up ahead, nobody nobody can stop me!",_ hyped up by Chan himself following his verse, " _I'll show you the way, so follow my, follow my lead, e-oh!"._

They made it all the way through it, and when the entire house exploded in a _"Can't you see I'm in my zone!",_ Hyunjin tripped and fell down with a satisfied smile on his face, and slumbered away just as fast. As Seungmin and Yeji went inside the cirlce to pick him up, the other two decided to finish it and bowed at their audience, retrating to the bar-corner again.

"Dude, I have no words," Felix laughed, almost choking in a glass of something that seemed candy-flavored, "I can't believe I did that."

"You did amazing," Minho congratulated, "Hyunjin too, but I'm not sure if he will remember it tomorrow."

In the ten or fifteen minutes that followed some people had joined them and praised their performance, and at the same time, they watched the now fully-packed house acquire a bit more of a Christmas spirit. The flashing lights had been replaced with the ones of the tree that had been hiding in the nook of a hallway; Chan had played _All I Want for Christmas is You_ twice now and some people, instead of the heated making out sessions that were usually seen in parties, were dancing in couples in the centre of the main room (read: only some).

They suddenly spotted Changbin walking up to them fastly, a huge smirk displayed over his lips.

"Guys! Guys!" he called, out of breath, "Jisung's song is playing next!"

 _This is it,_ Minho thought as he and Felix followed the shorter back into the crowd. His pulse was racing, his hands were trembling; he couldn't understand why, he'd never been this excited when it came to dancing to a song he hadn't fully heard before.

Chan was standing next to the stereo, with his lips pursed as to stifle a laugh and dried tears evident on his face. There was someone next to him, but Minho wasn't able to see them through all the bodies; though he definitely saw Chan mouthing something along the lines of " _I can't fucking believe you"_ to the person beside him, so he just assumed it was Jisung.

 _Jisung_ tapped a microphone.

"Hi everyone, my name is Jisung," he started, giggling halfway through the sentence, "and I, uh, made a song, it's my Christmas present for Channie!"

It was December 22nd, still. An early Christmas present surely would have to be special.

"Enjoy this, Chan! Merry Christmas, people!"

Minho's palms were sweating and soon he was walking through the crowd, trying to make it to the front and see Jisung, but by the time he made it the boy had disappeared again.

And then it started.

_A motherfucking flute riff._

What followed didn't make it better by any means, " _Hyung, hyung, hyung, look over there, she's so pretty."_ What kind of straight bullshit was this?

If Seungmin had been close to having a stroke before, then Minho couldn't describe what kind of attack was Chan going to suffer in the next three minutes. Poor DJ just stayed there, hands clasped as if praying, and Minho understood why when the first line came in:

_"Excuse me, noona, do you have a boyfriend?"_

People fell to the floor. Changbin was laughing like a madman, Felix holding onto him for life support.

There was _no fucking way_ Jisung had chosen to finish _Wow,_ out of all of Chan and Changbin's old songs. His whole first verse went by in a daze, Minho too caught in his disappointment to try and take notice of the hideous lyrics.

It all became real when a bass boosted _"Wow, she's hot (hot, hot)"_ rumbled all over the building. The next thing he knew, Changbin had almost fainted when his line about Shrek arrived (not forgetting the legendary " _With a smirk_  
_I suddenly enter"_ ), and Chan was crying by the time his own verse came on.

Everybody lost their shit at _"Iron man in the streets, but I'm better than Tony"._ Despite Minho's urge to call an ambulance, he promised himself he would end Jisung's little bitchass and his awfully heteronormative song.

By the end of the party, nothing had been able to top the feeling of sheer devastation that _Wow_ left on every human present. No one saw Jisung again that night.

__________

The 4th of January, after Chan and Felix had returned from Australia and the others were back from spending the holidays with their families, Minho arranged a meeting in the older's apartment, and also invited his two fellow dancers and Changbin.

"So you basically want to make a song with as many gay elements as possible," Hyunjin repeated, looking at the paper in front of him, "but without giving away it's gay?"

Minho kept pacing around the room as he answered, "Yes! Gay yearning, gay confusion, gay curiosity, all of them combined in one song!" he turned around to see Chan deep in thought, probably already making up melodies inside his head, "But it isn't explicitly gay, you know?"

Changbin glanced at him in slight disbelief before staring back at the open file in Chan's laptop. After some quiet minutes, Felix raised his hand, "I forgot, what's the purpose of this?"

"Destroying Han Jisung, of course."

"How is this going to destroy him?" Chan questioned, not tearing his gaze from his laptop, "I mean, I don't understand why you want to do it in the first place. If anything, it's me who wants to kill him, which is why I came here."

"Because I thought I had the chance to choreograph P.A.C.E.! You never let me choreograph P.A.C.E.!"

The older pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, sighing as Felix chimed in, "Yeah, okay, but you still haven't met Jisung."

"Don't encourage him!" Hyunjin yelled, getting up to fight the other if required, "Meeting Jisung would only result in more reasons to end him!"

For the first time in an hour Chan looked up at Minho again, "God, alright, you're disappointed," he said, and then added, as if it caused him physical pain to say it, "but why don't you just choreograph _Wow_?"

This statement alarmed Hyunjin and Felix more than anything else before; they both stared at Minho with pleading eyes, then sighed in relief when the older retorted, "I thought of it at first, but there's no fucking way I'm going to dance to such a straight thing."

"You danced to _Call Me Maybe_ —"

"Shut up, Changbin!"

While Felix explained to Changbin why a boy dancing to Carly Rae Jepsen was, in fact, not very straight, the oldest of the group fell back into the couch, defeated, and asked in a sudden realization, "You do know Jisung isn't straight, right?"

Hyunjin held back a laugh when he saw Minho's neutral expression morph into one of pure shock and confusion.

"Then why in the ever-loving hell would he write such a heterosexual bullshit?"

"You do know that _Wow_ is one of my old songs, right?" Chan repeated, regretting it as soon as the words left his mouth.

"Then why in the ever-loving hell would you—"

"Remember last year's Practical Music teacher? The young one?" Changbin suddenly yelled, startling Felix as his smirk grew wider.

"No way," Minho stared at his friend, grinning like the spiciest secret in History had just been revealed to him, "No fucking way, Mrs. Yeon?"

The four watched in amusement how a peachy blush made its way into Chan's cheeks and he looked away. The song suddenly made sense, and Minho recognized he had been too caught up in passing History of Dance last year, so it was reasonable that he failed to notice that attraction. Still, he didn't know it had been that strong for Chan to feel the need of making a song out of it. A not very good one at that, thank goodness Mrs. Yeon didn't get to hear it before she left.

"He wanted to make her Mrs. Bang—"

"Shut up, Changbin!"

Love was beautiful, but embarrassing Bang Chan was, too— the only reason why Changbin had agreed to help Jisung with the song.

__________

  
A beautiful and cold winter afternoon, Minho finally met Jisung. Neither of them could call it a nice first meeting. In fact, Minho had been two seconds away from slapping Jisung's soul into oblivion.

It had happened when the older arrived to the music production room to check how was Chan doing with the base of their song, once he had finished all of his classes for that day. On the way he came across Hyunjin and Felix, who told him excitedly that they had been writing some lyrics for the song and wanted to know if they were good enough. So, _the boys_ and Minho stumbled upon the small room, only to find a sleeping Chan and a younger boy raiding the mini-fridge.

"Hey, Jisung!" Felix yelled, going for a high-five as in reflex at the sight of the guy. _Jisung_ smiled widely, as if he hadn't been stealing all the ham sandwiches again, and Minho almost thought he was cute. Almost.

"You! You're the bastard!" he approached the shorter, initially scaring him (which caused a pang of guilt to appear inside his chest, though he'd never admit it) but soon causing a playful smile to spread on his lips, "What are you smiling about?"

"You're the guy who's trying to get revenge on me by using a song with the same title!" Jisung exclaimed with genuine joy, "That's so creative, dude! Have you written the lyrics yet?"

In all his glory, Minho had decided to also name his song _Wow_ because only then would it make sense, as it had the complete opposite energy of Jisung's but still the same concept. This had confused Chan and Changbin quite a lot at first.

"My team and I—"

" _Your_ team?" Hyunjin and Felix whined in unison, Minho queting them down by simply putting a hand up.

"—we're halfway through it. And, mind you, it will be better than your lyrics."

"Oh, really?" Jisung leaned against the wall, almost dropping half of the sandwiches, "Do you think you'll be able to beat _You can be Fiona, I'll be Shrek_?"

The door opened to reveal an incredibly annoyed Changbin mumbling, "I sure do choose the best fucking moment to arrive."

"Yes I can!" Minho shouted, promptly waking up Chan who looked as if he had just snapped back from an astral projection. He stared at his surroundings trying to identify where all the noise was coming from, until he spotted Jisung at the wall with all his sandwiches and screamed, "Motherfucker!", all sleepiness disappeared in half a second.

In the midst of this unfortunate event, Hyunjin had been recording and Felix had sat down next to Changbin to look over the lyrics. The now-raven-haired boy recognized they were good, in addition to the parts Minho had already written by himself, and conveyed the message he originally wanted quite well.

"So, _I wanna catch up to where we left off,"_ Changbin smirked once they had finally calmed down, showing everyone in front of him the paper, "who wrote this one?"

No one answered.

"Guys," he repeated, "which one of you dumbasses caught feelings for a one night stand?"

"It wasn't a one night stand!" Hyunjin shrieked all of a sudden, "Nothing happened! But he hasn't looked at me since—"

"Alright, lads, enough," Chan got up and stole the paper from his friend's hands, "I don't really want to know about Hyunjin's love life."

"It's not a love life! I don't even know if we're friends right now!"

The oldest scanned the lyrics and let out a laugh when he saw that the line following was " _Let's be friends, you and I"._ The next verses were rather interesting.

" _Your appearance when we first met, curious of you_ ," he read aloud, " _this vibe that has changed, curious of you_... Oh, we should do a vibe check."

Jisung started getting up to leave at the mention of anyone possibly endangering his physical integrity for the second time that day, but paused when Minho loudly chimed in to tell Chan not to read the next line.

"Why not?" he said, eyeing the two eldest mischievously, "Did you write that, Minho?"

"And what if I did, huh?"

"Then we'd, uh, we'd have an interesting issue here," Chan interrupted, "because based on these lyrics, it's quite clear that our dear Minho has a crush."

A chorus of "Ooh"s and "Aah"s took over the room in an instant, all eyes on the aforementioned, who was still to busy trying to collect himself to be able to utter a response.

"I do not!" he finally stated, "I wrote that based on what I felt the night you played _Wow—_ I was very excited, because I thought Jisung had finished P.A.C.E., and I wanted to meet him because everyone always talked great things about him and then took them back and— I thought, what a confusing dude, I must get to know him— wait, guys, no—"

No one had seen _the_ Lee Minho panicking with such intensity before. Jisung, on the other side, after getting over his initial shock, was having the time of his life; though if anyone looked at him for a few seconds they would be able to tell he was actually shaking under his skin, because _holy shit Minho had a tiny crush on him._

Eventually the dancer noticed there was no reasonable way of getting out of the situation without losing his last bits of dignity, seeing as everyone was still watching him struggle like he was a chihuahua choking on a taco (oddly specific, but it had happened once), so he just shut up and left, not even daring to get back the paper with his song lyrics.

Chan stared with a genuine smile at the words printed on it, " _My feelings that I can't understand, mysterious of you"._

__________

A couple of days after the crush incident, Chan and Minho finished the instrumental and soon the younger had convinced _the boys_ to take part in singing, too. It was kind of endearing seeing Felix trying to find the perfect tone with his deep, husky voice, but when he finally did he had everyone on the floor. This world was Felix's, they were all just living in it.

Another thing that surprised Chan was the speed at which Hyunjin could rap, to which the latter nervously replied that he'd had an encounter with the unknown not-one-night-stand just before and had panicked, leading him to letting it all out at an incredible velocity. Minho was sure Felix knew something about this mysterious guy of Hyunjin's. He always did.

When they had finished the recordings, having definitely ended Chan after Minho's falsetto (and making sure he was still alive), the three headed to the dance room with a demo of the song on the oldest's phone to start choreographing. Because, yes, Minho decided to do a full package and destroy Han Jisung once and for all. At some point it lost all sense and they were just doing it for fun; Jisung himself was excited to see the results.

"We're going to make the hottest dance we've ever made!" he yelled as he connected his device to the speaker, "That boy won't be coming back alive."

"Yeah, but have you thought about how and when to perform this?" Felix stopped him, "I mean, showing him everything in this plain room will be no fun."

As much as he wanted to deny it, Felix was right. If he truly wanted to shock Jisung, then the dance room wouldn't do.

The next birthday that could possibly hold a fairly big party was Hyunjin's, and it was still two months away. On the other side, the next celebration that people sort of cared about was Valentine's Day, and there was absolutely no way Minho was going to use that. He still had some honor left.

"Are there really no parties this month?"

"I mean, uh," Hyunjin started from his designated corner, "Seungmin's brother, Jeongin, his birthday is next month. He's still in high school but he has some friends in common with Seonghwa, from what he's told me. You know where I'm going?"

Soon the plan was set; they would talk to both Seungmin and Seonghwa to get the latter to throw a party for Jeongin's birthday, with the excuse that it had to be big because he was turning eighteen. Seonghwa was also a nice guy, almost as nice as Chan, so it was almost sure that he wouldn't decline; and he _loved_ themed parties, so having a birthday one was something he wouldn't miss.

"Alright, ladies!" Minho shouted, "Let's get to work!"

__________

By the time Jeongin's birthday arrived, the song was finished and the choreography, over-practiced; and they had managed to convince both Seungmin and Seonghwa to throw the party. They had even gone to Seungmin's house to meet the birthday boy; a strange series of events, because when the older introduced him to his friends Jeongin stared at Hyunjin and smirked, winning a slap on the nape courtesy of a beet reed Seungmin— and when Jeongin got all excited about the party, his brother shed a not so fake tear and mumbled, "Little bitch is growing up."

And so Minho, _the boys_ and Changbin could be found now in Chan's apartment finishing the last details of their outfits, mostly consisting of tight leather pants and see-through shirts because Minho was _that_ bitch.

"I don't understand why it has to be in my apartment."

"Fuck you, that's why!" the youngest yelled as Minho applied glitter over his eyeshadow. They all felt a little guilty for Jeongin; poor boy hadn't done anything wrong in his life (no matter how much Seungmin insisted this statement was wrong), and yet here they were, preparing to finish a game he didn't even know about in his own party. Changbin, though, claimed it was a great way of starting his adult life ("Why?", "Because you look like strippers").

"Well, guys," Chan started once they were all ready to leave, "I want to thank you, because I will probably hand in this song for an assignment, and you have an extra choreography for your class if you need it, I guess."

"This was a fucking wild ride," added Changbin, getting up to retrieve the car keys from the kitchen counter, "Minho, what are you gonna do when it's over?"

That was the question Minho feared. He'd been so caught up in this personal project that going back to normal life seemed too boring to be a choice, even more letting go of Han Jisung's stupid self. The boy had won a place inside his heart, albeit having been out of spite initially. It felt strange to Minho. Moreover, no one had mentioned the crush incident since it happened, and the dancer himself didn't think there would come a time when he'd actually need to talk about it.

"I— Guys, I—," he choked on his words for a moment, not knowing how to answer. Who dared to make _the_ Lee Minho feel like this? Vulnerable, in an abrupt gay panic; something Chan, who knew him since high school, hadn't seen in years. Jisung was dead for sure now. Minho half-recovered and muttered, "I think I don't want to stop seeing Jisung?"

"Aw, our little bitch is growing up too!" Felix cooed, embracing the older who just hid between the crook of his neck. No one had seen Minho this embarrassed, it was incredible. Quite amusing, in fact. "Why don't you ask him on a date?"

Minho almost got whiplash with the speed at which he raised his head, "And why would I do that?"

Chan was opening the front door by now and they were exiting the apartment one by one, "Because he won't expect it," he said, realizing he was lying a bit because Jisung had definitely noticed the older's feelings, "then you'd destroy him even more, right?"

During the car ride to the party, this time held at the house of a common friend of Jeongin's and Seonghwa's, Minho was awfully quiet and deep in thought. He couldn't even recall the last time he'd been like this. His nerves were crawling under his skin, or maybe the leather pants were way too tight; he didn't know, and at this point, he didn't care either.

He snapped back to reality when Jongho, the host, opened the door a bit confused.

"You're early, Jeongin hasn't even arrived yet," he commented, letting them inside the house.

"Yeah, we're in charge of the music," Chan answered, "Seonghwa told us to come before the rest."

"Coolio!" _no way_ he actually said that, "There are some people here too, we're putting up the last decorations."

In what they assumed was the main room, the others had hung up a huge banner with the words "Happy Birthday, Innie!" written in big neon pink letters. Looking at it for more than two seconds, they realized it actually spelled "Happy Dirthbay, Innie!". Awesome.

Chan found the stereo as soon as he walked into the room and quickly linked his phone to it, the first song playing being none other than _California Girls._ Then, as if it had summoned them, someone rang the bell and Jongho opened the door to reveal Jisung accompanied by Seungmin and Jeongin.

The youngest stared at the three dancers, who were already pouring some drinks because Minho needed to calm down somehow, "I— I don't remember saying anything about wanting strippers?"

"I told you so!" Changbin yelled, immediately quieted by the sound of more people arriving. Jeongin didn't even know half of them, he was just excited to have such a huge party for the first time in his life. He looked adorable meeting them— something everyone agreed on.

By 11 PM the house was packed; no one really knew how they had gotten so much people to go. The word 'party' was like a magnet for students, more powerful if you mentioned cheap drinks and CB97's playlists. Jeongin, now legal, was doing rounds of shots at the makeshift bar, each drink's flavored to something related to birthdays, with at least ten people around him cheering. Seungmin had disappeared.

"Hey," Jisung's voice surprised Minho, who had been waiting for Felix to come back from the toilet, "Are you going to do one of your famous performances tonight?"

The older stirred his drink with the straw, the amount of alcohol suddenly seeming too low and his nervousness increasing in return, "I— Yeah, with Lix and Hyunjin— but I don't know where they are."

"Oh? You prepared something?" the other snickered, sitting on the plastic chair beside him, "I thought you improvised."

"I mean, I have to destroy you tonight so of course I prepared—"

"Really?" Jisung jumped, his eyes glistening with excitement and _oh no,_ Minho didn't like one bit the shy smile forming on his own face. Minho was never shy. What was this bullshit? "Did you choreograph your version of _Wow_?"

"Perhaps I did—," his vision suddenly landed on a couch located in a well-hidden corner of the room, "—is that Hyunjin?"

One of the boys on the couch was definitely Hyunjin. Worse— he was shamelessly making out with whoever the other one was.

"What the fuck?" Jisung squinted, trying to figure out who it was, and retreated in horror when he finally did, "Isn't that Seungmin?"

"Fuck!"

With loud steps, both boys got up in search for the toilet where Felix could possibly still be, knocking loudly on each bathroom door when they got lost. Felix got out of the third one, his make-up completely messed up and Changbin and Yeji beside him.

"Felix! Oh my god, what happened to you?" Minho shouted over the music as he approached the three. Felix looked like he had just thrown up. He probably had.

"Someone gave him a peach flavored drink on his way to the toilet," Yeji explained with exhaustion lacing every bit of her voice, "Turns out this motherfucker here forgot he's allergic to peaches."

The younger did a weak peace sign in an attempt to show he was half-okay now. Truth was, he wasn't, which in turn made the despair levels in Minho rise because _he couldn't do this alone._ It was the first time the boy felt he wouldn't be able to dance by his own.

"Minho, you alright?"

"No!" he stared at Changbin, "Felix is going to pass out, Hyunjin is sucking Seungmin's face off, and I don't know why I can't show the song without them!"

"Dude," Felix interrupted his anxious ranting, "I can dance. Just one song, I'll be able to."

He ignored Changbin's complaints and Yeji's exasperated sigh, latching himself onto Minho's arm as Jisung lead the way back to the main room.

As much as they hated to interrupt, they needed Hyunjin to complete the unit. Therefore they had to walk up to the couch and practically push him off Seungmin so they could get his attention, being called "cockblocks" in the process.

Between three people they managed to get up Hyunjin on his own two feet. "Hyunjin, I know you're drunk," Minho started, "but we're going to play our song now and finish this, alright?"

"Of course I'm not drunk!"

"Of course he is," Seungmin laughed, getting up too and joining the group in their quest to reach Chan and the stereo. To say Jisung felt like he was absolutely tripping was an understatement; he didn't know what he had got himself into.

"Chan!" they all shouted at once when they spotted him. The boy turned around at the sound of all those voices calling his name, and smiled as he got closer to them.

"Are you ready to play _Wow,_ Minho?" he asked, instantly receiving a nod in confirmation from the latter. He walked back to the stereo and paused the music, a moment Minho took advantage of to down one last shot. The group heard Chan instructing everyone to make a circle and leave space in the center.

"Our lovely Minho here made a song with Hyunjin and Felix," he announced as the three got in their respective positions to start, "And they did a choreo for it! Hey Minho, any last words?"

This was supposed to kill Jisung, not Minho, but he definitely felt like he was the one dying. He took the microphone Chan had stolen from God knows where, and gathered enough confidence to say without shaking:

"This goes for you, fucking Han Jisung! Also, happy birthday, Jeongin!"

Then, the music started.

There was no motherfucking flute riff this time; instead, more contemporary sounds and snaps, soon followed by Hyunjin's recorded voice. Despite Felix having been a minute away from fainting and the other too wasted to know what was happening at first, they were all almost perfectly coordinated.

Minho could feel Jisung staring, and his own face burned with his first line, " _Confused, confused, it's hard for me to start a conversation with you."_ Why in hell did he follow Chan's advice of pouring his heart out in the lyrics?

Poor Felix was in a daze and even tried to rap along with the recorded audio, but he wasn't able to talk and move at the same time without falling back. When Hyunjin's verse arrived he tried to make fun of himself by doing weird faces, but everyone got confused and thought he was having some kind of attack. They almost stopped the music.

They got through what seemed like three hundred _"Got me trippin' like, wow"_ before reaching the dance break that turned out to be surprisingly fine despite the chaos; sure, Hyunjin had stumbled backwards and Minho almost tripped over him and fell, but besides that, it was fine— _great_ , in the eyes of whoever was watching them, especially Jisung who couldn't tear his gaze apart.

People had gotten used to the rhythm of the song quickly and now, as they approached the end, they were all chanting " _Just wanna be with you"._ The dancers even heard a couple of glasses break.

Finally, when Minho glanced at Jisung and smirked at his ending line resonating, " _I want to know your heart, bang bang,"_ the song stopped; Hyunjin fell backwards on the floor and Felix started throwing up next to him.

_What a night._

Chan and Seungmin dragged the taller to the hallway to possibly find a room in which he could sleep peacefully, while Changbin and Yeji helped the other up again and went away to find a glass of water. People soon started crowding the whole area again, leaving Minho sitting alone against a wall.

"Minho," he heard Jisung sit next to him again, "that was incredible. You really did that because my song got you mad?"

"Honestly, at this point I forgot why I was doing it," the older chuckled, wiping sweat off his forehead. Then Felix's words invaded his mind, _ask him out on a date._

Jisung laughed and placed a hand over his forearm, "But really, it was great, I want to go on a date with you."

No way. _No fucking way._ His ears must have failed him. He was the one supposed to ask him out. Had he read his mind?

"You— what? On a what now?"

"A date with you!" the other chirped joyfully, as if he didn't know he had just sent Minho into orbit again, "Come on, you're awesome, you've proven it, and you've got a thing for me. The lyrics give it away, dude, you stared at me at the end. I'd like to get to know your heart, too."

They fixed their gazes on each other for a whole awfully long minute before Minho managed to make out, "I— Yeah, okay— I'll go on a date with you."

He knew he stuttered way too much. Not one of his proudest moments.

"Nice," Jisung handed over his phone, "put your number, we can talk about the details tomorrow if you want."

As he typed in the digits, Minho tried to recall how the hell had he even gotten into that situation. Who knew the party playlist and his desire to end heteronormativity would manage to make him start falling for Han Jisung's dumb ass? Wait, did he just recognize that he was falling for him?

"Hey guys," they heard Chan calling from behind them, "why is Jeongin crying?"

_What a fucking night._


End file.
